Getting Started

ECU Graduate School - Admitted Student Checklist

Your Pirate ID

This is your login to most computing resources at ECU. It is made up of your last name, first initial and 2 digit year of admission (ex. John Doe, admitted Fall 2012: doej12). You receive an email from the Graduate School containing your PirateID and ECU ID.

Your ECU ID
You have been assigned a unique ECU ID (also called Banner ID) that identifies you as a student at East Carolina
University. Your ECU ID will be required for identification purposes for financial aid, requesting transcripts, etc.

Passphrase
This is your password that you create for your accounts.

You must register your PiratelD and create your initial passphrase before accessing any electronic resources at ECU. You will be required to change your passphrase online at least once every 90 days.

Enter your Pirate ID and ECU ID, then follow the prompts to complete the process for creating the passphrase.

Helpful hint: Passphrases contain characters from three of the four following categories: uppercase letters, lowercase letters, numbers and special characters (*, #, @, etc). Your passphrase MUST be at least eight characters in length.

Your ECU E-mail Account
You are provided an ECU email account. Students are required to check their email account regularly for important announcements and messages from campus. Your email address is your PirateID followed by @students.ecu.edu (ex. doej12@students.ecu.edu)

Getting Started in your Graduate Program

PiratePort is ECU's customizable, secure Web portal that allows you to access and organize campus resources and services: https://pirateport.ecu.edu. Log in to PiratePort with your Pirate ID and passphrase. Click Tools to open the menu and drag your most-used features onto your personal page. PiratePort allows you to access your student account, course schedule & registration details, ECU news, and other valuable information.

Registration Information

Contact your program for information regarding course selection and registration. Contact information for each program can be found on the Graduate School webpage under the Find Your Program link: https://www.ecu.edu/gradschool. Information about Registration and Schedule Changes can be found at http://www.ecu.edu/registrar. The Student menu at the top of the page contains the "General Registration Information" link where you can find detailed registration instructions. If you encounter registration errors, contact your program for assistance. Some programs prefer to register their students for courses and do not allow students to use the online registration system.

Online Orientation Course
Prior to the beginning of your first term, you will be added to an online orientation course that you will be able to access from Blackboard (blackboard.ecu.edu). An email from the Graduate School will be sent to your ECU email account notifying you when the online course is available to you. Please note that this is not a credit-bearing course, you will not be charged tuition for it, and it will not appear on your transcript.

Immunization Requirements
Prior to beginning of classes, students enrolled in on-campus courses are required to show proof of immunization. Immunization records are not required for online students. Please go to http://www.ecu.edu/studenthealth/ to find the Immunization and Medical Report Form. Complete and return this form, including proof of your required immunizations, as soon as possible to Student Health Services. If you have questions regarding your immunization history or requirements, please contact Student Health Service at 252-328-6841 or immunizations@ecu.edu.

Health Insurance
East Carolina University students in on-campus classes are required to have health insurance. Distance Education students are not eligible to enroll in student health insurance nor are they required to waive out. If you are covered by an existing health plan, you can waive out of the student plan by providing policy information from a current, valid health insurance carrier. For students without coverage from an existing health plan, you must enroll in the health policy adopted by East Carolina University. To waive or enroll, visit http://www.bcbsnc.com/ecu. Please contact Student Health Services, 252-328-6841, with any questions regarding waiving or enrolling.

Tuition Information
Visit www.ecu.edu/cashier for information about the Cashier’s Office including Tuition and Fees and Important Information about Methods of Payment. You may access your student account, including tuition, fees, and financial aid details, through PiratePort.

East Carolina University’s Electronic Billing (eBill) system is the official means of generating tuition bills to enrolled students. ECU does not mail paper bills to students. Students will receive email notifications from cashier@ecu.edu to their student email when a new billing statement is available online. Students can gain access to the eBill system through PiratePort at https://pirateport.ecu.edu. If additional charges are incurred after an eBill statement has been generated, it is the student's responsibility to monitor their financial account through the eBill system to ensure that there are sufficient financial aid resources and/or payment to cover all charges on the account. Important
dates for late fees and schedule cancellations are on the University’s Academic Calendar.

University Calendar
View ECU’s Academic Calendars for important deadlines regarding registration and tuition payment. The calendar may be accessed through the Quick Links menu on the ECU homepage. Make sure that you review the Academic Calendar each semester, as it also includes important information about registration deadlines, thesis and dissertation deadlines, university holidays, and final exam dates.

FAFSA and Financial Assistance
We encourage you to complete the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) at http://www.ecu.edu/financial/. The FAFSA is used to determine eligibility for Federal Financial Aid and it is also useful to the program to determine eligibility for other forms of financial assistance, such as a graduate assistantship or scholarship. Submitting a FAFSA does not require you to accept any type of financial assistance that is offered to you. The information from the FAFSA allows the Financial Aid Office to determine your eligibility for financial assistance.

Academic Standards
Detailed information regarding academic standards applicable to graduate students can be found in the Graduate School Catalog. The catalog is available in PiratePort and on the Graduate School website under the Current Students link. Please review the information in the catalog regarding academic standards, along with the other information available on the Current Students page. The Current Students page also includes valuable information about academic support, financial assistance opportunities, and graduation details.

Good Standing. In order to remain in good academic standing, graduate students must maintain a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0 once they have completed a total of 9 credit hours. They must also maintain any additional or higher academic standards established by their program of study. Students who fail to meet these criteria will be placed on academic probation,during which time they will have an opportunity to correct their academic deficiencies. The probationary period will last for the term(s) in which the next nine credit hours are attempted. If the students are unable to raise their GPA to 3.0 or greater, they are subject to dismissal from the program. Graduate students will not be allowed to continue in their program once it becomes mathematically impossible to achieve an overall cumulative GPA of 3.0 by the end of the remaining probationary period. A 3.0 GPA is required for graduation.